Hi,
I am new here so it would be great if you can help me.
The story goes like this, I have problem with my racquet.
I am 4.0 player, started playing at age of 6, and was playing till 14 years old.
Then I paused my tennis for 15 years. (i am 29 now)
Now I am back to tennis playing for three month now.
When I was at my young age I was playing mainly with head pro tour 630.
So two months ago I bought Head prestige MP youtek, with pros pro vendetta strings (25kg / 24kg) (18x20)
The problems started on the beginning of my playing with Prestige. (mostly eastern and semi western grip player)
First of all I have big pain in my wrist and now is pretty seriously, it doesn't go away.
Secondly, I have big problem with low power and with depth (the balls are to short or to deep).
I tried to play with head youtek speed mp (18x20) and my game is much better in compared to head
Prestige, but I am not a fan of big sized head (645), I just can get used to it.
My wife is playing with Wilson blx six one team, I tried to play with it and my wrist pain was almost gone and the feedback from the frame was great.
I will also try to play with Head radical MP, to see if i can get higher power in my shots and to see how my wrist will react to radical.

Please if you have some advice about racquet I would appreciate your advices......
I will try today play with Wilson blx six one team for little bit longer and with radical.
I am very sad about Prestige because in my young days that was my dream to own Head prestige like my tennis idol Goran Ivanisevic (we are from same country Croatia) and now when I can afford one my wrist is in trouble and my game is bad.
Thanks in advance.....

Dreamliner

07-20-2011, 03:40 AM

Do not give up on the Prestige. As with most HEAD racquets, the Prestige is string-sensitive racquet. I have learned that with HEAD, livelier strings do better. As Pro's Pro Vendetta is a fairly comfortable co-poly, I see no problem in keeping it in your frame aside from perhaps dropping the tension to something like 22-23 kilograms. It's amazing how little adjustments can change everything. If that does not help, I would recommend other string set-ups with a hybrid or a full multifilament the way to go. Control will not change much with the more forgiving response allowing you to make contact more solidly every time. Besides the Prestige is the ultimate control stick. Spin accessibility may a drop a bit though. A hybrid or a multi set-up would also help decrease the jarring response (vibrations and all) when hitting outside the sweet-spot. This may be what is causing some of your wrist pain.

ricki

07-20-2011, 03:56 AM

Try stringing BB original in mains and prince syn gut in crosses, tension 23/22 kg, I have good experience with it. I have it in Prince Rebel and o3 tour hybbrid....

MayDay

07-20-2011, 04:17 AM

Stop playing if you have wrist pain. Take a break from tennis for a month. Don't risk further injury.

Maybe you're playing too much tennis and your body(arm) is not conditioned yet?

Maybe you still have the basic form but lost the timing and strength and contacting the ball late? The heavier prestige also have higher swing weight than the blx six one team (very light racket), so you're probably swinging the lighter racket with better form, timing, and contact point. Focus on making contact in front. Late contact causes more stress on the weaker parts of your arm.

Dave M

07-20-2011, 04:23 AM

You must give your body time to rest and of course get used to the forces tennis puts on it, it takes time for both.

Mateo

07-20-2011, 04:58 AM

Stop playing if you have wrist pain. Take a break from tennis for a month. Don't risk further injury.

Maybe you're playing too much tennis and your body(arm) is not conditioned yet?

Maybe you still have the basic form but lost the timing and strength and contacting the ball late? The heavier prestige also have higher swing weight than the blx six one team (very light racket), so you're probably swinging the lighter racket with better form, timing, and contact point. Focus on making contact in front. Late contact causes more stress on the weaker parts of your arm.

Well there is point in timing issue, I have nice form (with forehand) it is flat most of the time with little semi western position for spin balls, of course I am still in progress of getting back my tennis from my young days, I think that this advice to lower the string Kg is maybe first thing that I can do to try to solve my under power shots.
It is funny from my perspective, I take a backhand shot diagonal with Head speed and the ball is going perfect, than I take a same shot with Prestige and the ball barely cross the net or it is too deep in the court, it is so frustrating.
When I was playing racquets wore same all the time it didn't mater if I swing short or take a big swing the stiffness was same , now it is stiff if I take big swing, or vice versa.
Honesty, I want my racquet to have same stiffness no matter how hard will I swing like my ex Head pro tour 630 or prestige classic 600.

It is hard to take a break ones you start to play tennis after such long time not playing.
I only play for weekends, because work doesn't allow me to play in the middle of the week.

Mateo

07-20-2011, 11:37 PM

Thanks for your advices;
I will try to work something out with string tension and new set of strings.
My idea is to change strings and try some new setups.

First thing is that I won't little more power, so I want to find compromise to get some power but keep control on the level.

Now my Prestige is set to 25/24 kg, is it ok to go to 23/22 kg tension as advised?

How much change will I get if I lower string tension only for one KG (24/23)?

It would be great to get some firsthand advices on type and model of strings.
For now I don't want hybrid type, more 1 type string.
I saw that Babolat pro Hurricane is good string with a lot of positive feedback.

Dreamliner

07-21-2011, 01:50 AM

If you like the feeling of a polyester I can certainly recommend WeissCannon Scorpion 1.22. In fact, it ranks #1 in terms of control on stringforum.net
It is also extremely soft!

http://www.stringforum.net/ratings.php?sdnr=2499&count=1

It is extremely tension sensitive and if you find what works with the Prestige, it will feel like heaven. I would recommend going right to the bottom of the YT Prestige recommended tension range: 52lbs.

Mateo

07-21-2011, 02:23 AM

If you like the feeling of a polyester I can certainly recommend WeissCannon Scorpion 1.22. In fact, it ranks #1 in terms of control on stringforum.net
It is also extremely soft!

http://www.stringforum.net/ratings.php?sdnr=2499&count=1

It is extremely tension sensitive and if you find what works with the Prestige, it will feel like heaven. I would recommend going right to the bottom of the YT Prestige recommended tension range: 52lbs.

Thanks for advice; I'll try to find it at my tennis shops.

When I insert 53 lbs in to converter (lbs to kg) it says 23,58 kg
What tension should I put 23kg/22kg ?

Mateo

07-21-2011, 02:24 AM

Or 24kg / 23kg ?

Rogael Naderer

07-21-2011, 02:36 AM

Or 24kg / 23kg ?

Go with 23kg, the lower tensions feel great with Weiscannon strings.

You could also go 24kg in the mains and 22.5 in the crosses, for real comfort.

Mateo

07-21-2011, 04:07 AM

I called 3 shops and they don't have Weisscannon strings :(

I can chose from several Babolat strings (almost all models), pro's pro, head, MSV...

Can you advise me what other strings I can choose that are on level with Weisscannon scorpion?

tampa_edski

07-21-2011, 04:49 AM

regarding conditioning - when I took about 5 years off for a back injury, it took a good year to get back into strong playing shape. Of course I was 42 rather than 29...ymmv.

Rogael Naderer

07-21-2011, 05:55 AM

I don't personally like Scorpion, perhaps MSV Focus HEX, 1.18 or 1.23, go with that same tension, these are best strung nice and low!

Mateo

07-21-2011, 06:46 AM

I don't personally like Scorpion, perhaps MSV Focus HEX, 1.18 or 1.23, go with that same tension, these are best strung nice and low!
Thanks, Il try to find Focus HEX, what about Babolat, do they have some model that is in that ''first class'' for my Prestige?

Mateo

07-21-2011, 06:51 AM

Tension 23 kg mains / 22kg cross? Is that good choice?

klementine

07-21-2011, 07:38 AM

Stop playing if you have wrist pain. Take a break from tennis for a month. Don't risk further injury.

Maybe you're playing too much tennis and your body(arm) is not conditioned yet?

Maybe you still have the basic form but lost the timing and strength and contacting the ball late? The heavier prestige also have higher swing weight than the blx six one team (very light racket), so you're probably swinging the lighter racket with better form, timing, and contact point. Focus on making contact in front. Late contact causes more stress on the weaker parts of your arm.

Great advice. Agreed.

VGP

07-21-2011, 07:49 AM

Stop playing if you have wrist pain. Take a break from tennis for a month. Don't risk further injury.

Maybe you're playing too much tennis and your body(arm) is not conditioned yet?

Maybe you still have the basic form but lost the timing and strength and contacting the ball late? The heavier prestige also have higher swing weight than the blx six one team (very light racket), so you're probably swinging the lighter racket with better form, timing, and contact point. Focus on making contact in front. Late contact causes more stress on the weaker parts of your arm.

+1

Also, take some lessons from a qualified teaching professional. Perhaps you should have your stroke mechanics analyzed.

It is hard to take a break ones you start to play tennis after such long time not playing.
I only play for weekends, because work doesn't allow me to play in the middle of the week.

I know it might sound silly, but on the days you don't play and if you can, while at home swing your racket around. Take shadow swings. Get used to the feel and heft. It'll prevent the racket from feeling so foreign when you do get to play.

klementine

07-21-2011, 08:02 AM

It could also be the case that your strokes are fine...

I never understood why people consider lighter racquets more powerful and heavier frames 'low-powered'...

If your strokes and footwork are sound it is exactly the opposite...

It could be that the lighter 6.1Team is so low-powered in relation to your strokes that you have to put all of your body weight behind the shots to achieve the same results as you would with a heavier frame... producing no wrist pain.

And when doing the same thing with a heavier frame... maybe just to keep the ball in... you're holding back... not utilizing your body weight and lower legs as much... thus putting more strain on your wrist... shoulder and back...

I've found the solution is be weary of the flex of a racquet... if a racquet is really 'flexy'... you can afford to swing a higher static/swing weight... because the low-flex will inherently balance out the 'power potential' of such a stick.

klementine

07-21-2011, 08:17 AM

NOTE:

A good tip for putting less strain on your wrist/shoulder....

At the height of your back-swing.. your grip should be so loose that someone can walk up and literally pull the racquet out of you hand with ease....

This ensures (along w/ footwork... and bending of the knees and trunk rotation) that more of your body weight will be put into the shot...

Your grip will gradually and involuntarily tighten on your follow through... as you don't want the racquet flying out of your hand at ball contact...

I also do this on serve... I'am not a 'top-spin' player... more of a traditional 'flatter' hitter, relaxed strokes.